The ecommerce experience is evolving. In the Stone Age of online shopping, buyers were just happy they didn’t have to leave the house to get a new book or buy a pair of shoes. Online stores were the cool kids, and everyone else was just trying to keep up.
Here we are in the Inbound Age of ecommerce, and everyone has an online store—whether it’s the only way to shop with that company or simply an e-version of the brick and mortar store. With the barriers to entry coming ever lower, consumers are demanding ever more work by ecommerce marketers to earn their business.
So, now who are the cool kids? Consumers—74% of them, to be exact—say the cool kids are those who can offer a relevant, interactive experience. Now you have to ask yourself, “Am I relevant?”
Well, are you?
If you don’t know what relevant is, you probably at least know what’s irrelevant. And if you don’t know that, you’re in trouble. For comparison’s sake, here are 9 ways to create the most irrelevant user experience possible.
1) All Roads Lead to Your Homepage
Congrats! You’re out there creating ads through AdWords and Adroll. That’s a great start. Now, let’s go ahead and have all those links go straight to the homepage. If someone searches for blue suede shoes, you just need to get them there to your site—where they can start the search process all over again. That’s not going to make anyone mad… Right?
For real: When you pay for ads, you want to get the most out of them. Consumers looking for blue suede shoes should be whisked from Google search right to the landing page for blue suede shoes on your site.
2) Name, Rank, and Serial Number
Casual shoppers love it when you require registration on your ecommerce site before they can even see the products. The only thing they might love more is having to register just before they hit the checkout button. This is perfect for you, because you need as much information as you can get to personalize the shopping experience for them, right?
For real: 99% of first-time site visitors aren’t ready to buy, anyway. They just want to browse a bit and see what you have to offer. Make registration available, because they might just sign up if they like what you’re selling, but don’t force the issue. Forcing people scares them, and scared people definitely won’t give you their credit card information.
3) Sorry, I'm Terrible With Names
Who hasn’t been caught at a party with someone they’ve met before and can’t remember who or why or when? That’s why customers will be just fine seeing a generic greeting every time they drop by your site. It won’t matter one bit that you’ve met 16 times before and they’ve bought shoes in every color. They probably expect it, because everyone forgets once in a while, right?
For real: Greeting customers by name is one of the easiest ways to build a trusting relationship. Building a valuable ecommerce business requires getting to know customers in progressively greater detail over time. The important thing is that you simply remember, because the truth is that it’s pretty awkward and kind of insulting if someone doesn’t remember your name.
4) Distract with the Shiny Things
When shoppers are really getting involved in their search on your site, they’ll be thrilled to receive pop-ups with other recommendations—or better, a request to enter their email address. Doesn’t matter what’s in the pop-up message, really. The important thing is that you keep them engaged by presenting a new one every time they navigate to a new page. How else will you get as many products in front of them as possible, right?
For real: Just assuming pop-ups actually do any good, most people have blockers turned on, anyway. All your hard work would be for nothing. And if one or two of those pop-ups made it through the gauntlet and appeared on the site, you can rest assured buyers don’t want to see it. Especially if that pop-up isn’t relevant to the products they’re searching.
5) Cats Win the Internet
Who doesn’t love cute cat pictures and videos? There’s a reason ICanHasCheezburger is so popular, and it’s not because they post boring blogs about how to use their products. The only way to keep up is to offer your own cute, furry friends in videos. Even better, talk about your cats in the company blog. People love to read about the silly things cats do when shopping for a new camera, right?
For real: The only way to make your blogs relevant is to talk about the products and services you offer. Whether those blogs talk about awesome people doing awesome things with your products or tell potential buyers how their new items can best be used, the blog is there to inform. Entertainment is fine, too, but funny videos should always tie back to your strategy for building an audience of relevant potential customers by creating content that matters uniquely to them.
6) No Bad News
How could a bad review possibly help your ecommerce site? Just in case, you should delete any bad feedback and take away that customer’s voice. How else can you expect to present the products in the best possible light?
For real: A little bad news only confirms that people are talking about you. When you share those bad reviews and show that you’re willing to make amends, new customers will appreciate your honesty. They’ll also feel secure in the fact that any problems they have will also be heard and attended to. Honesty is always the best.
7) Push the Things You Want to Sell
Who cares if a guy visits your page looking for dress shoes for a wedding he’s not excited to attend. What he really wants is that $1,200 handbag you’re trying to sell. Make sure he sees a recommendation for that handbag on every page he visits. For good measure, go ahead and add it to the follow-up email when he inevitably buys what he was there for in the first place. Maybe he’ll go ahead and take the plunge.
For real: Product recommendations are a great way to show your buyers you know what they like. If the suggestions are relevant, you’ll not only win their trust, but you might also win another purchase when they see the belt that matches the shoes is also available.
8) Get Super Social
What’s the point of a Facebook page for your ecommerce site if you’re not pushing products every hour on the hour? For good measure, you should go ahead and promote those posts so they show up in everyone’s feed—even people who aren’t already following you. While they’re catching up with Grandma, they might just leave Facebook and buy that nail polish or dog treat box subscription.
For real: Promoted posts are a great way to reach new customers, but you should make sure they’re only reaching your target audience. Not only will you pay more for promoted posts to go to absolutely everyone who’s ever signed up for Facebook, but you’ll also annoy anyone who doesn’t fit the buyer persona for the ad displayed.
9) Spam is Delicious
When someone hands over their email address so they can receive future offers from your company, you have carte blanche to fill their inboxes with your discounts, new product launches, and company news. Just to make sure they see everything, don’t worry about segmenting your contact list. Keep sending every piece of content to everyone who’s ever visited your site. Eventually, someone has to bite, right?
For real: Email marketing can be a very useful tool for your ecommerce site, but you first have to get buyers to open the message. If you want people to open the emails, you must make sure they’re relevant to that buyer’s needs, that you don’t fill their inboxes with messages on a daily—or worse, hourly—basis.
So, we ask again: Are you relevant? If you’re doing any of these things, you can be sure you’re not. Jump right into the Inbound Age of ecommerce and start personalizing your content. Maybe getting started costs more, but 74% of consumers can’t be wrong. You’ll see your investment returned in no time.
What other irrelevant content have you experienced during your online shopping forays? We’d love to know the good, the bad, and the ugly, so tell us about it in the comments.
Originally published Nov 12, 2013 2:00:00 PM, updated January 18 2023